Emma held the bag of chips between her teeth to get the key in the door and pull with the other hand. She pushed a little too hard and she stomped into the apartment, almost falling head first to the floor with the bag still in her teeth. It wouldn't have been that embarrassing if, when Emma raised her head, she hadn't seen Regina standing right in front of her.
"Hey," she said through the bag. Then, she kicked the door for it to close behind her as she finally released the snack. "You saw that, right?"
"I did," Regina nodded. There was a ghost of a smile in her lips, but Emma could tell she was holding it back. "Are your ankles okay?"
Emma moved them and then nodded. "All good. Want some?" she offered her roommate from the bag of chips, but Regina just eyed the item and politely shook her head. It was then when Emma noticed Regina's hands were behind her back, like if she was holding something away from her view.
"I noticed you cleaned the kitchen while I was away, so thank you," Regina conceded. There was something about her posture that made Emma think she had done something wrong, but she had taken care of Lily like the rules said, so she didn't understand what it was.
"No problem. How was work? Where did you go?" Emma asked, subtly eyeing the back of Regina but not catching what she had there.
"West," Regina just said, not giving anything else away, "and it was good. Efficient and well done as always."
"Nice…" Emma smiled. Suddenly they were standing in silence in the middle of the apartment and she felt the elephant in the room was falling on top of her, so she took a breath to address it. "About Lily –"
"Actually, I was going to the study. I have a few things to do," Regina cut off, already walking there.
"Oh, okay," Emma just said, thrown a little off balance. "I'll see you later then."
"Yes," Regina said and then entered the study, her back still towards Emma and closed the door. Emma blinked at it, trying to understand what had happened. She put an order on things she had noticed.
Regina didn't want to talk about Lily (was she jealous or just upset because someone else had been at her house?)
Regina was hiding something behind her back? Something that maybe had to do with whatever she was doing in the study?
Emma realized she had been staring at the door for longer than acceptable, so she turned in her heels and headed towards her bedroom, thinking about her list and trying to figure out what it all meant. However, her thoughts were interrupted by an incoming text in her phone.
Lily was asking about her day at work in a casual way, like if she wasn't really asking, and Emma sat on the bed to answer. She –hardly– alternated the texting with the videogame she was playing, and before she could realize it, her stomach grumbled with hunger and a glance at the hour confirmed it was late.
She had gone grocery shopping a few days ago, so she was happy thinking about a nice omelet and toast as she left her room to make herself dinner. Emma was on her way when she noticed the study's door was still closed. She walked closer and leaned in, in a stupid habit she always recoiled when she realized she wouldn't hear a thing. Emma bit her lip; perhaps she should let Regina alone for now. She seemed off before.
Emma hesitated, her hand already up and ready to knock, but then she dropped it. And raised it. And dropped it. "You're being stupid," she said to herself before finally gathering the courage to knock on the door. It took a beat before it swung open with Regina on the other side.
Her chest was raising a falling with heavy breaths, like if she had been doing some kind of exercise, but she wasn't sweating and her hair was immaculate perfect. Regina raised an eyebrow and asked, a little out of breath, "Yes?"
"I'm gonna make dinner. Thought maybe you wanted some?" Emma offered from the other side of the door. Regina had opened enough for her body but she couldn't see beyond her. "Omelette and toast."
"French," Regina said. "Sounds good."
"Cool," Emma nodded, her arms hanging to both sides of her body. "I'll make some extra food then."
"Thank you. I'll be out in a minute," Regina politely smiled before closing the door and not giving Emma a chance to speak. She was getting used to it, so Emma just turned to do what she had said: cooking dinner.
It was an easy task, and even easier with the apartment's modern appliances. By the time Regina finally emerged from the study, Emma was already done and plating the meal. "It smells delicious," she said, getting closer and taking a seat on one of the stools, in front of Emma.
"Thanks," Emma smiled proudly. "And it's meat free."
Regina laughed softly and Emma ignored the feeling in her stomach, "See? Not that hard. You should try it."
"Well, I already said I'd think about it," Emma waved a hand. She took a stool and sat in front of Regina, sliding one of the plates towards her roommate. Regina took a bite and Emma watched how a small smile replaced the slight frown that clouded Regina's face. "So, west?"
"Huh?" Regina asked, but before Emma could answer, she nodded. "Oh. Work, yes. It was nice, but too warm."
"Didn't you have time to enjoy the beach or pools?" Emma pointed at her with the fork before taking another bite.
Regina shook her head. "It was a quick job," she said distractedly, but then she raised her head and clarified. "As in an easy task of…work, you know."
"Yeah," Emma answered as she knew anything Regina ever told her and missed Regina's relieved sigh as she glanced down at her plate. "Well, maybe some other time you can stay there for pleasure instead of work."
"So you can have the love nest free?" Regina wondered. Emma raised her head and saw her smirk, but it didn't quite reach her eyes, like if she didn't find it as funny as she appeared it to be.
"N-no, it's not like that," she assured, shaking her hands in front of her.
Regina raised an eyebrow, "And how is it?"
Emma stared at her, her eyes wide from the situation. She had tried to keep the subject away but they had just started talking and it was already out. "We only had dinner."
"Did you?" Regina pressed.
Emma felt the blush in her cheeks and imagined she probably looked like she had grown tomatoes on her face. "Well, we…It's nothing serious."
"Okay." Regina's eyes came back to the plate and Emma repeated.
"Really. It's nothing serious."
Regina's gaze lifted and repeated as well, "Okay." Then she came back to the omelette and they ate in silence. It was driving Emma crazy but she didn't know what to say anyways, and she was thankful it didn't take them long to finish. When Emma ate the last piece, she stood up to clean, but Regina stopped her from her seat. "I'll wash the dishes. You cooked so it's the least."
Emma was ready to protest, but then again she was glad she could leave the room, so she nodded and walked away, coming back to her room. She picked up her phone and saw she had a text from Lily, but she didn't really feel like talking, so she left it aside.
Since Emma had moved into the apartment, she hadn't really felt uncomfortable. Yes, it took her a while to finally feel at home, but it wasn't uncomfortable. However, over the last few days Emma felt a silent tension between them. They talked to each other in a normal way, and even watched the Bachelor and it was fine, but Emma still felt a shadow of something she couldn't place threatening her from behind and not letting her quite enjoy it.
It was because of that Emma was so surprised when one day Regina opened a letter during breakfast and suddenly said. "Do you want to go to a spa?"
"What?" she was just able to articulate.
"I got two invitations for a spa," Regina explained, raising two tickets for Emma to see. "I'm only one."
Emma blinked, a spoon dripping the milk from the cereals half way to her open mouth. She would have never guessed Regina would ask her such thing when she woke up that morning. When she realized the other woman was looking at her, waiting for an answer, she finally lowered the spoon. "Sure," she said with a shrug.
"Good," Regina murmured like if she was talking about a business transaction. "Is tomorrow good for you? I know you don't work on weekends."
It felt like she couldn't say no under Regina's intense gaze, so Emma nodded and waved the hand with the spoon. "Yeah. I'm free."
"Then we will go tomorrow morning," Regina settled, dropping the envelope into her purse. "I won't be here for the day, but is tomorrow at 9 okay?" When Emma nodded, Regina did as well as she looked for her keys. Once she found them, she raised them and threw her roommate one last look. "See you then."
"Later," Emma could just say before she was found alone. She finished the bowl of cereal, her body still heavy and not quite awake. It was when she was washing the bowl when she realized she didn't know where her bikini was. "Shit," she murmured as she rushed to her bedroom.
With all the moving in and out, she didn't remember where she had seen it for the last time. Emma hadn't had vacations in, at least, a good few years, so it was an old bikini anyways. She grabbed her bag and her phone and texted Mulan while she left the apartment. Maybe it was time to go shopping.
"But wait, let me get this straight. Regina and you at a spa?"
Mulan was frowning while she eyed a bikini and then shook her head as she left it where she had picked it up. Emma followed her close, holding a few hangers with bikinis in them. When it came to clothes, Emma knew Mulan was her go to friend, because she got her style. If she had gone with Mary Margaret, Emma would already be wearing a flower outfit.
"Yes," Emma confirmed with a nod. "I don't understand either. We haven't had a conversation for more than 10 minutes in a while and suddenly she wants me to go with her to a spa! What do you do in a spa?"
Mulan threw another hanger towards Emma's hands and she had to lean to catch it. "You go there to relax, so relax."
"I can't," Emma shook her head. "It looks like it's a silent place and you know I get nervous when there's an uncomfortable silence."
"It doesn't have to be uncomfortable," Mulan pointed out. She left a sarong on top of the bikinis and Emma raised an eyebrow. "Trust me. Now let's go get these tried on."
Emma followed her friend into the fitting room and, while Mulan took a seat in one of the comfortable looking sofas and pulled out her phone, she slid the curtain.
"How are things with Lily, by the way?" Mulan asked out loud to be heard through the ruffling of hangers inside the cubicle.
"I haven't heard from her in a while," Emma commented as she tried to get the clasp right. She was surprised by the uncaring way those words had come out, but her main focus was on the bikini. She slid the curtain and opened her arms.
Mulan shook her head, her mouth drawing an inverted U. "Wrong choice. Not your color," she shook her hand. "You sound cool about it, considering the drama with Regina," she continued once her friend was back into the fitting room.
"There's no drama." There was a silence and Emma rolled her eyes, "Maybe a little, about the spa thing, but Regina made things clear and, as I said, I don't want to make things even more complicated with my roommate."
"That seems like an elaborate excuse," Mulan deadpanned. Emma opened the curtain again, this time with a swimsuit that opened in the middle with a weird circle.
"It's not an excuse."
"I'm just saying it sounds like one. It's okay if you have feelings for Regina; you just have to accept it. And it's a no from me. It has a weird shape," she added, pointing at the girl standing in front of her.
"Shut up," Emma snapped. "Can we move on from Regina? Because we're clearly not on the same page," she said once she was back inside.
"Okay," she heard a sigh from outside. "Speaking of the devil. Didn't you say Mal was Lily's mother and your boss?"
"Yeah," Emma confirmed from inside, fighting the garment. "Why?"
"I just read she bought a whole company for an amount of money I can't even pronounce." It sounded like Mulan was reading the information and, when Emma came out, she confirmed it when she saw her friend's eyes on her phone as she scrolled down the news. "If you're not going to go out with Lily, you could give me her number." Emma threw a bikini top at her friend, hitting Mulan's face and making her laugh. "I was just kidding."
"Let's focus, okay? How about this one?" Emma asked, pointing at herself. Mulan's eyebrows shot up and she smiled, nodding slowly.
"Try it with the sarong," she excitedly said, leaving her phone aside. Emma did as she was told and Mulan smirked. "Regina is going to drool when she sees you."
"That's not the goal!" Emma retorted. Then turned and watched herself in the mirror and added, murmuring to herself, "But I wouldn't mind."
The car rode through the traffic in silence, moving smoothly. Emma, swallowed by the leather, watched the other cars passing by but her mind was going through every possible scenario that might happen. Regina, on the other side of the seat and facing the other window, seemed oblivious to it glancing outside, serene.
As they had agreed on, at 9 sharp in the morning they were ready to leave the apartment. A car had come to pick them up, but Emma still didn't know if it was part of the invitation or if Regina had called it. She guessed it would be revealed to her once they reached heir destiny. The driver was in a uniform, not too formal but enough for Emma to know she couldn't afford the service easily.
They arrived earlier than Emma expected and then scolded herself for not googling the place first, to at least know where she was going. The driver opened the door on Regina's side, so she waited for her roommate to exit the car and the hurried outside before he shut the door, smiling weakly at him. Regina hadn't waited for her, so Emma caught up with long steps and followed her from behind.
Regina was wearing a long, light dress, something so carefree looking Emma was surprised when she had seen her roommate emerge from her bedroom. It was dark blue and it gave her a goddess feeling that left Emma almost speechless. She still was.
Emma eyed around and saw a boring looking building and frowned, wondering if they had a stop scheduled. She shot a glance to the car over her shoulder and caught it driving away, so she guessed it wasn't a stop. When she entered, though, she raised her eyebrows.
While on the outside the building looked like another office place, on the inside Emma felt like going inside a relaxing retreat. It was all decorated with warm colors and the light was dim. There was a scent in the air that made Emma's muscles relax unconsciously. On the desk, a young man received them with a smile. Once Regina gave him the invitations, he handed them bathrobes and towels for both of them, along with a key.
Another smiling girl guided them upstairs in the elevator and to the private locker room, where she explained them they had to change and the routines before leaving the room. Bathrobe and towel in hand, Emma blinked watching the big mirror that covered one wall.
"I though there was like a locker room for everyone," she commented when she finally snapped out of it.
Regina left the bag she carried on the bench and passed a hand through her hair. "There is, but we have VIP passes that include a private changing room."
"Who did you say that invited us?" Emma asked, leaving her own backpack inside the locker. Regina reached behind her back to unbutton the single button there was on her dress and it slid down her shoulders. Emma's eyes followed the motion before she swallowed and glanced away, focusing on her own clothes.
"I didn't say," Regina murmured, but didn't elaborate, so Emma shrugged. She struggled with the zipper of her jeans and tugged at it.
She hadn't turned around to see Regina, suddenly more focused on feeling self-conscious about her body. Mulan had swore to her she looked amazing in that bikini and she had felt good when they were at the store, but now with the reality of facing Regina was a little intimidating. Emma left everything on top of her backpack, poorly folded, and cleared her throat before turning.
Regina was almost ready, closing her own locker and adjusting the key in her wrist. She was holding the bathrobe with her free hand, so Emma gulped when she saw Regina in a bikini. She quickly glanced away, feeling like she wasn't respecting Regina, but the other woman didn't seem to care at all. When Emma's eyes fell upon her again, she was already wearing the bathrobe.
"Are you ready?" Regina asked before shamelessly running her eyes throughout Emma's body, who softly nodded and grabbed her bathrobe.
They went up in the elevator in comfortable silence, while Emma watched the views by the window glass of the elevator. She felt like if she was ascending to heaven at a fast pace. When she elevator doors opened, they entered a circle space, with numbered doors that led them through the routine.
The first couple of rooms felt like silence room for Emma. She could hear herself breath above the soft music and was almost afraid to say anything and disturb the relaxing atmosphere. Regina, however, seemed to be taking her sweet time, but Emma felt she was a little tense. They were on the third room where they just sat on hammocks when she finally felt Regina relax a bit, and it was when a man in his late 50's entered the room, followed by two muscled men.
Emma watched him, wondering why Regina had immediately loosen her shoulders and watched him subtly. She knew everyone had their taste, but she didn't really think that man was that handsome as to be staring at him. She started to get bored after a while, so she was thankful when they moved to another room, coincidentally following that man.
Regina walked towards the door number 7 and Emma frowned. "Shouldn't we go into number 4?" she asked, pointing behind her.
"Those aren't worth it. Trust me," she just said as she opened the door.
Emma didn't have time to complain, since an overwhelming heat wave hit her. She hadn't read the description of the room, but she didn't need a PhD to know it was a sauna. Regina slid the bathrobe off and hung it on one of the hangers, not waiting for Emma to go in. Inside, Emma found, it was so dark she couldn't see anyone. She wouldn't be sure there were people there if she hadn't seen the three man enter before them.
She narrowed her eyes to try to find Regina, and suddenly a hand grabbed hers and tugged, making her sit. Emma felt Regina's body next to her immediately, but if she had any doubt, the shiver she felt when Regina whispered in her ear confirmed it.
"You were letting all the heat out."
Emma chuckled softly, more out of tension than fun, and forced her body to relax. It was a harder task than she thought though, and she was starting to have trouble breathing in that heat. She tried to hold it together as much as she could, but soon she felt her chest heavy, so she leaned in to whisper Regina. "I'll wait for you outside."
She stood up without waiting for an answer, eager to leave the room, and when she finally did, she took a deep breath. The chill air filled her lungs and she sighed with relief. For a moment she thought she would run out of air inside.
She felt some heat from behind and turned to find Regina exiting the sauna with a frown. "Are you okay?" she asked to Emma's surprise. "You seemed troubled."
Emma laughed shamefully, feeling her cheeks turning red and not from the heat. "Yeah, yeah. I just…didn't really like that room."
Regina nodded and, now that the surprise was gone, Emma's glanced dropped and noticed Regina's gleaming body. She felt dirty herself, sweating in places she didn't know she could sweat, but Regina wore it like an additional gleam to her already beautiful body. A drop of sweat traveled down the valley of her breasts and Emma found herself following the motion with her eyes until Regina spoke and pulled her out of the haze.
"Take a shower. It will make you feel better," she commanded, and Emma just followed her, her mind in blank. And she was right, the moment the water ran over her body, Emma felt it relax. By the corned of her eyes though, she watched Regina softly sighing under the water stream.
While Emma was out quickly, Regina took her time. The three musketeers -as Emma had started to call them- emerged from the sauna and took their showers while Regina dried her body slowly, almost like if she was waiting for them to catch up. Emma wasn't complaining; Regina in a bikini was something she didn't have the chance to witness every day.
Bathrobe on again, they moved onto the next room. The cold room, Emma read outside. She frowned, not quite liking it, but still followed her inside after taking off her bathrobe like the poster said. There was a corridor and the walls were covered in what it looked like ice. "Are we…supposed to rub the walls?" she asked behind Regina.
They reached a small space, with little holes in the walls, and Regina pointed at one of them. "You have to take the ice and rub it on your body," she explained.
Emma's eyes went wide and she shook her head. "Oh no. I'm not doing that. It's fucking it."
"It's what you're supposed to do in this room. It's good for your body" Regina crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, but Emma was still reluctant.
"It's not a rule and my body is perfectly fine with a normal temperature. But if you want to do it, be my guest," she said waving her hands at the ice.
Regina's gaze lingered in Emma, whose hair stood on end both from the cold and the intense stare, and then shrugged, turning. "Mmm…," she murmured, frowning at the ice.
"What?" Emma asked, leaning closer out of curiosity.
"It's just…" Regina leaned down as if to look closer into the ice and Emma took a step forward. Then another when Regina didn't answer "Look."
Emma curiously leaned in to look and Regina took the chance to drop some of the ice on her back. Emma half gasped, half howled when she felt the ice running down her back as she stretched as much as she could, as if that action freed her from the cold.
"You didn't!" she exclaimed, brushing the ice down with her hands.
Regina watched her with a satisfied smirk, her arms crossed over her chest. "It's good for your body."
Emma watched her roommate with incredulous eyes, but she was quick to react and in the blink of an eye, she grabbed a handful of ice and threw it at Regina, who gasped as well when the small rocks hit her front. "Now we're even," Emma resentfully said.
She watched Regina's shock for a moment and started to regret what she had done, but then the other woman's lips drew a smile that soon became laughter as she threw Emma another handful of ice. Emma laughed along, dodging the ice while she tried to get the ice in Regina's back. They wrestled, laughing breathlessly and fighting with the ice, until Emma caught Regina against one of the ice holes and their faces got dangerously close. The laughter died and there was only their breaths against each other, their bodies, already cold, pressed together.
Some voices echoed in the room and they abruptly separated, Emma clearing her throat while Regina picked a small rock of ice from her hair. "Do you have enough ice?" she asked, and Emma caught a glimpse of a smile in the corner of her lips.
The next room, on the other side of the hall, had a sun on the sign and Emma stopped at the door. "Another sauna?" she asked. "I think I'll pass."
"This is a softer one," Regina assured. "And it will do you good after the ice."
Emma bit her tongue, stopping herself from saying her body was warm enough, and instead sighed and followed Regina inside. The heat immediately welcomed her, but she noticed it was indeed a weaker heat wave. She took a seat but, next to her, Regina laid down and closed her eyes, so she took that chance to relax a little.
Across the room, Emma noticed the three men they seemed to follow. She wondered if they thought so, but it didn't seem so from their posture. The foggy air allowed her to watch them closely without being noticed, and she quickly caught the two big guys were the other one's guards. The man in the middle gave away some higher air to himself, like if he was better than everyone in the room. Emma suppressed a snort. He was nothing like a George Clooney; more of like that old man you find on a corner whistling at young girls.
He didn't look like Regina's type at all and Emma shook her head at herself for thinking she might have a crush on him. Her eyes fell upon her roommate's body and took a moment before glancing away. It's not like she knew Regina that deeply, even though she knew some things about her, never about who Regina really was. Her worries, fears, dreams, ambitions. And to be fair, Regina didn't know hers, but Emma was a lot more transparent in that matter. However, Emma could tell that guy wasn't Regina's type. They had had sex so that had to mean anything.
The musketeers murmured something and stood up. On their way out though, the middle man glanced at Emma. He drew a deplorable smile as he scratched his beard and Emma felt the taste of bile in her throat she had to swallow back. When the door closed, Regina stood up as well and turned to Emma, raising an eyebrow.
It hadn't been that bad -in comparison to the first sauna- but Emma was thankful when they stepped outside. "Aren't you hungry? Perhaps I could have my drive getting something on our way home," Regina said as she put on the bathrobe.
Emma frowned. "Wait. We're already leaving?"
Regina turned and blinked. "Well, I think it has been enough for me."
"But what about the jacuzzi and pool, or the massages? We're VIP." Emma felt like a little child asking for the latest toy, but it's not like she got to be at a spa like this every day.
"You can stay if you want. I will see you at the apartment," Regina shrugged. Emma blinked as the other woman walked away. That was it? She really had gone there, VIP passes just to go to a couple of saunas? She took big steps to catch up.
"But we- you could stay." Emma realized how needy that sounded and made a face. "I mean, the pass is for a couple hours more, isn't it?"
Regina pressed the elevator button. "Yes, but I've got everything I needed."
"You don't look relaxed," Emma bluntly said. The elevator rang as Regina watched her. "I mean, it was just some saunas."
Regina entered the elevator and smiled softly. "Really, you can stay. I'll see you at home."
"Wait!" Emma exclaimed before the doors closed, stopping them with her hand. She joined Regina inside. "I need to get my phone anyways, so I'll go with you."
With a nod, Regina pressed the button for the locker room's floor and the doors closed. Emma couldn't ease the frown from her forehead, but that didn't stop Regina from joking. "A phone isn't really a relaxing factor."
"I know. I just told a friend I would text her and I forgot," Emma made up as she went. In reality, she didn't really know what she was doing there, but her first impulse had been to stay with Regina as much as she could.
Regina's features hardened as she turned ahead. "You don't waste your time."
Emma's frown deepened as she stared at her roommate. "What do you mean?"
"I'm guessing that friend is the same one from dinner," she casually commented.
There was a moment of silence, but Emma was sure the click in her head could be heard from miles away. Regina sounded jealous. It took her most of her will to keep the smile from forming in her lips at the new discovery.
"Does it matter?" she wondered, tempting her luck.
Regina's eyes finally fell on Emma's. "Does it matter to you?"
"To me?" Emma asked and Regina shrugged.
"It's you who's sleeping with her, isn't it?"
Emma new her eyes wide were betraying her, showing herself transparent to an stoic Regina, but suddenly the conversation had turned too real and her made up excuse had turned out to be something else entirely.
"Do you mind?" she risked.
Regina's gaze was intense and she didn't flinch when she answered. "I'm not your mother to ask me if I mind."
"I'm not asking you as a mother," Emma retorted, too deep into the adrenaline to stop the conversation. She could feel her pulse in her neck.
"Perhaps next time we discuss matters I should try to use simpler words, because I thought it was all clear." The elevator doors opened as if for effect and Regina walked out. "I'll see you later."
Emma didn't bother to stop the elevator from closing. She remained still, in the same spot, in the same floor, going through a conversation she thought it was so surreal she wouldn't believe it if she hadn't lived it. But however things had gone, one thing was clear to Emma. Regina hadn't answered her question.